X2 THE UNCANNY XMEN: Dark Rebirth X
by Dan Bivens
Summary: What happens when, shortly after the events of RESURRECTION X, Scarlet Witch causes a complete reversal of mutant heroes and mutant villians so that the X Men are the villians to a heroic Magneto and company?
1. Chapter 1

**DARK REBIRTH X**

Chapter 1

Exactly sixty minutes after the events that saw Scarlet Witch resurrecting formerly dead-and-buried X-Men behind the X-mansion and after the always warrior-geared Wolverine had coldly killed the Master of Magnetism, Eric Magnus Lensherr…

"You wanted to see me, Professor M?"

It was a scene straight out of Professor X's opulent office in regards to his primary members of the Uncanny X-Men, save for two very important points…

Eric Magnus Lensherr, alive and well and seated behind said desk in an actual wheelchair of all things…

With the blue-skinned, golden eyed, red-haired Raven Darkholme a.k.a. Mystique standing straight and tall before the exquisite escritoire in much the same manner as, in a far different Reality, Cyclops would've done...

"Yes, Raven," said the mutant most had known by the name Magneto in at least two drastically different Realities. "First of all, I wanted to once again congratulate you for leading the M-Men against the House of X recently. That successful sneak attack could've easily killed us all…had you not utilized your mutant shapeshifting powers to infiltrate their infamous number in order to discover their desperate plans."

"Thank you, Professor," said a smiling-with-self-satisfaction Mystique, currently wearing a form fitting uniform all M-Men would wear crafted from a well-balanced combination of lustrous leather and scintillating spandex. Which, of course, her shapeshifting powers could instantly alter into any combination of clothing options as well as metamorphosing her complete physicality and even her specific sexuality.

"Unfortunately, the House of X is still very much a menace," finally finished Professor M while allowing his mutant mastery of magnetism to play around with paper clips, stapler, letter opener, and the like in a subconscious fashion similar to someone doing so with their all-to-Human hands. "Not just to us, but to Mankind in general."

"Yes, I know, Professor," heavily heaved the current combat leader, answering solely to Professor M, of the Magnificent M-Men. Seconded, in combat, by the mutant Master of Fire, John Allerdyce a.k.a. Pyro. "I've been toying with a plan d'attaque for the team to possibly execute against The House of X's city-side hideout. As always, it would make maximum use of the M-Men's many abilities in a manner that would more or less ensure sufficient surprise to…"

"Yes, so I've been told," interjected the wheelchair-bound Master of Magnetism, as the hovering items of metal resituated themselves atop his impeccable desk. "Cain Marko seemed especially exited about putting his unstoppable mass and super-strength to use in such a well-coordinated all-out assault against the still-reeling House of X."

"Does that mean," sheepishly asked Mystique with a salient lifting of one red-haired eyebrow, "that you approve?"

As a slow smile spread itself across his European expression of self-certainty and self-reliance, both of which made him the singular supreme leader that he, indeed, had been since first starting his School for Gifted Youngsters and magnetically constructing Cerebro. A high-tech device developed to locate promising mutants from anywhere in the world via magnetically stimulated satellite uplinks acting as a unique universal magneto-web through which such could inevitably be detected.

"Yes, my dearest Mystique, I approve," said a smiling Professor M even as he exerted just enough of his mutant magnetic powers to manipulate his wheelchair far more pragmatically than could be accomplished with one's hands and arms. "As soon as the others are freed from their teaching responsibilities regarding the younger mutant students, we'll proceed down into the underground hangar in order to ready the M-plane for a rapid expedition into New York City."

"And this time," confidently added the blue-skinned Mystique, "the telepathy-proof metal hull your powers forged shall shield our combined minds from Charles Xavier's mental abilities. Making this particular attack completely foolproof."

Nodding in complete concordance, Professor M said, "I'll meet you and the other M-Men down there. Try not to be late, Mystique."

"Don't worry, Professor M," a gregariously grinning shapeshifter said with a wink, "I wouldn't miss this for the world."

Meanwhile, from Westchester County to New York City some 60 kilometers distant…

Charles Xavier, still calling himself Dr. X because he had once held an pedagogical position at NYU prior to rededicating his mutant abilities to standing against all anti-mutant Humans beginning to group together and persuading politicians and pundits, was psychically scanning a radius of some 25-to-30 kilometers.

Enough to have, previously, provided the forewarning necessary to stop the Magnificent M-Men cold.

The bald, telepathically powerful mutant miscreant had experienced prejudicial injustice during World War II at the hateful hands of Adolf Hitler and his Nazis, as well as escaping certain torturous death in the heart of his parent's Poland prior to the final defeat of Nazi Germany.

"So far, so good," he snarled telepathically while relating such to those likeminded mutants that'd joined his Holy Cause…

Logan a.k.a. Wolverine, the resident cold-blooded killer of the tight-knit team of super-powered villains, always willing and ever ready to slaughter fellow mutants, such as the M-Men, as well as hate-filled Humans.

Ororo Munroe a.k.a. Storm, a beautiful black lady whose unhappy experiences in that Deep South shaped her later determination to utilize emerging elemental mutant abilities against weak-minded Humans and Human-loving mutants.

Scott Summers a.k.a. Cyclops, whose sense of loss and subsequent desire for mutant-powered optic-blasting retribution occurred early on when his parents were cruelly killed simply from looking different, though they were not mutants.

Though unknown to everyone else in New York state, it was Scarlet Witch who had employed her mutant talents in regards to warping localized Reality, in this case far beyond New York City, that had a dual set of circumstances.

First and foremost, it brought a killed-by-the X-Men Magneto back to life while also flip-flopping localized historical certitude in connection with mutant heroes versus mutant villains. Scarlet Witch strangely not included in either.

Thus causing Charles Xavier and company to now be the evil ones, while Magneto, Mystique, and company were now the enemies of said evil.

Had such an exertion of reality-warping powers not physically and mentally depleted her, Scarlet Witch might've made the necessary adjustments to make everything "right". But after raising the dead twice in a single twenty-four hour period, her hex craft would be lucky to alter even an individual's immediate history.

Let alone the twisted Destinies of dozens of super-powered mutants and millions of New Yorkers.

Besides, this was shaping up to be an exceptionally exciting situation and Scarlet Witch found herself particularly curious as to how this new Good-versus-Evil eventuality would inevitably develop.

Maybe, thought Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch with a strange smirk, I wouldn't want to change things back. Not yet.

END OF CHAPTER 1


	2. Chapter 2

**DARK REBIRTH X**

Chapter 2

Secretively exiting via the sheer side of a close-to-M-mansion precipice, having traversed the subterranean super-supported tunnel connected to the covertly located sub-level M-Men training and staging facilities including not only the far-reaching satellite-accessible Cerebro, but the huge hanger as well…

"As soon as we achieve 95,000 feet at Mach 3," slyly explained Professor M as the white-haired Master of Magnetism mentally manipulated the complex mechanisms controlling the Blackbird jet, "we should reach the House of X headquarters in New York City in less than two minutes time. And, with the magnetically enhanced hull I recently crafted and installed, Dr. X's telepathic powers will be quite neatly neutralized."

"And then, Professor," Mystique said somberly as she sat in one of several ergonomically molded acceleration-resistant seats complete with compound restraints snuggly holding each M-Man mutant member firmly and safely. "Then we'll be able to attack without the House of X knowing in advance. It'll be our greatest raid yet."

"All I know," snarled the massively muscular mutant called Juggernaut, as the specially-designed seat holding his 900-plus pound person as safely and snuggly as the rest, "is that I plan on pulverizing that New York City HQ into so much mangled steel, ground concrete, and broken brick. Not to mention puttin' down that cold-blooded killer called Wolverine!"

Glancing about from his magnetically manipulated wheelchair, Professor M visually surveyed his Magnificent M-Men…

Callisto, the female fighter with similar mutant healing abilities to Wolverine, not to mention martial arts combative competence unlike anyone other than the crazed Canuk in the House of X…

There was Quicksilver, super-speedster and silver-haired brother to the strikingly lovely Scarlet Witch, capable of casting hex-spells to shift always elusive "luck" in their direction…

There was also Avalanche, whose capability to create quakes within an ample radius about the helmeted mutant…

Not to mention mutants more recently added to their roster, such as the seemingly morbidly obese Blob and the vicious Sabretooth and tongue-talented Toad…

And all these were merely the mutants that made the grade in regards to being M-Men. There were far more clamoring to make the so-called "inner circle". Magneto imagined he would have to use his mastery over magnetism and metals to create a second Blackbird jet should their membership significantly expand.

He'd bother about that when the time came.

For the moment…

"Coming into range, sir," said Pyro from a seat situated slightly behind and between Mystique and the wheelchair-bound Professor M. "We need to slow our speed and make our descent."

"Already begun, Pyro," the Master of Magnetism said staidly even as his conscious control via magnetic energies over the jet's sophisticated systems did, indeed, significantly cut their airspeed as well as initiating a downward direction straight for the region wherein the House of X were currently cooling their collective heels. "Ready our attack strategy, my friends. Our element of surprise shall not last once the Blackbird becomes physically visible."

And, at that self-same moment…

Within the six-story brownstone with studio apartments that had been completely converted to serve as headquarters to the House of X, consisting of such villainous mutants as…

Cyclops, Storm, Wolverine, to name the main three…

As well as such notable mutant members as Henry "Hank" McCoy a.k.a. Beast, blue-furred freak with an uncanny animalistic inclination contradictorily countered by an unexpectedly significant intellect, second only to the psychic "master" himself, Dr. X…

With many more members by the mutant codenames: Archangel, Iceman, Shadowcat, Nightcrawler, Banshee, Prodigy, Dazzler, Cannonball, Gambit, and on and on and on.

And, though the magnetically-created anti-telepathy metal merged with the Blackbird's radar-resistant hull kept Dr. X from "seeing" the surprise assault being initiated outside said brownstone HQ…

…it was with relative ease that Wolverine's enhanced smell and hearing readily detected those deplaning directly above their heads.

"We've got company," he snarled with a double Snikt! indicative of adamantium claws unleashed from the backs of tightly clenched fists. "Let's give 'em the 'welcome' those bastards deserve."

END OF CHAPTER 2


	3. Chapter 3

**DARK REBIRTH X**

Chapter 3/Conclusion

"Kill these mothers!" insanely shouted Wolverine, that villainous element of the mutant assemblage calling themselves the House of X, as he rushed forth atop their six-story brownstone headquarters in one of the boroughs of New York City.

Brooklyn.

Followed closely by the plenteousness of anti-Human mutants constituting said House of X were a monumental number of super-powered aberrations of the Human genome.

Such as…

Storm, Cyclops, Beast, Archangel, Nightcrawler, Iceman, Banshee, Colossus, Rogue, Shadowcat, Dazzler, Prodigy, and several others not so ubiquitously recognized…

Whatever you do, psychically said Dr. X, Charles Frances Xavier, as he literally walked around in the rear of his villainous collection of mutant miscreants, do not give these M-Men a chance to catch their collective breath! Attack with everything you have…and then some! I shall handle their wheelchair-bound 'bell cow'…Professor M. Magneto!

The fighting was fast and furious with neither side suffering fatalities…yet.

"Taste some optic blasts, bastards!" snarled, loudly, Cyclops as his extra-special battle-visor unleashed a concentrated and controlled ruby-colored blast beam that Juggernaut heroically diverted via his singularly unstoppable muscular Self so that others forming the more finite number of Magnificent M-Men could continue their righteous assault.

"Not so long as the Juggernaut's on his feet and in motion! And you, Cyclops, ain't gonna stop me! But I'm liable to break you in half when I get my massive mitts on ya!"

"Not when I can sap y'all's strength and mutant 'magic', bucket-head!"

Having relied solely upon her less noticeable Self to slip up to Juggernaut's raging side, laying ungloved hand to unclothed bulging biceps, Rogue not only knocked out the mountain of muscle, but instantly absorbed his unstoppable super-strength which she would, in turn, utilize against the still-attacking M-Men.

Forcing some of these heroes from Westchester County to redirect at least a little of their attention and accumulated mutant powers to at least deflect a suffused with super-strength and immutable momentum Rogue so such as they could continue to take the attack to the counterattacking House of X.

"Concentrate solely upon the rank-and-file, my M-Men!" heroically instructed the wheelchair-bound Magneto, Professor M to his superhero students, as he prepared for a magnetic melee almost totally concentrated upon an old friend-turned-foe…

"Well, Magneto," Dr. X said with a sneer of supremacy as his super-telepathic mind reassigned itself to the one mutant such as he considered remotely his compeer. "I see you're still suffering the aftereffects of our last significant conflict. The wheelchair somehow suits you…old friend. Heh, heh, heheheh!"

"I've learned much since that dark day, Dr. X," Magneto smilingly said in steady response while magnetically maneuvering his standard wheelchair gradually a little closer to the super-psychic slowly striding straight for him. "You will find me a much less submissive objective than when your psi-bolt robbed me of the use of my legs."

"Really?" laughingly replied Dr. X, even as the clash of Magneto's M-Men against Xavier's House of X was swiftly rising to a physical crescendo of super-powered sparring. "We shall see…won't we…Eric? Ha, ha, hahahaha!"

But, while the inescapable contention between the supremely moral Good versus the supremely immoral Evil was on the verge of being quintessentially decided…

Storm manipulated lightning bolts from a quick collection, via her Mistress of the Elements mutant abilities, of dark clouds directly above the Brooklyn borough. Sending such destructive energies in a downward path in an attempt to exact certain destruction and death against such as…

The M-Man calling herself Mystique was not just a shapeshifter, but had above-average acrobatic abilities almost the equal of the blue-furred and fanged House of X mutant so quaintly called Beast, and, thus, easily avoided these super-bolts slamming firmly into the brownstone's flat rooftop…

…while Avalanche relied upon his mutant capability to cause localized quakes to quite literally collapse a large fraction of the House of X's roof from underneath the not-so-sure footing of quite a few wicked mutants…

…and as Pyro unleashed and controlled artificially initiated flame that sent several more House of X mutant militants either scrambling for cover or falling in defeat…

…even as Sabretooth utilized his mutant-level leaping to not only avoid an electrocuting lightning bolt via Storm's elemental mutant super-powers, but to take the close-quartered combat directly to the only House of X member to match mutant-to-mutant abilities…

"Come to papa, you hairy ass—"

Wolverine's profane proclamation was swiftly silenced the instant Sabretooth sank fang and claw into the adamantium-clawed brawler from across the Canadian border. Not that such would be anywhere near enough to kill this killer, but would at the very least slow him slightly.

So that…

Quicksilver pushed his super-speed to its limits of near-supersonic velocities successfully against several House of X mutant miscreants…

…causing such as Banshee to resort to a super-scream sufficient enough to stop the super-fast Quicksilver in his white-booted tracks, while…

…the seemingly harmless mutant member of the Magnificent M-Men called, quite innocently and simply, Toad, proved his super-powered worth.

When not only leapfrogging, literally, out of harm's implacable path, but utilizing that talented tongue to shoot out and, with practiced agility, jerk first one then another of his super-powered House of X opponents out of his ever-persistent path.

And, as the unstoppable mutant muscleman, Juggernaut, gradually recovered from Rogue's power-and-identity stealing assault, so as to resume momentum and super-strength against said House of X…

…the super-fat Blob quickly proved exactly why such as he was as much a mutant member of the momentarily outnumbered M-Men as he easily shrugged off any and all attempts at counterattacks, save from such as Cyclops' super-destructive optic blasts…

…but provided proof, clear-cut and unquestionable, that, once set in motion himself, his fully half-ton frame of super-pliable flab could, truly, bowl over a variety of powerful opponents such as the devilish-looking, self-teleporting Nightcrawler, who had, like so many compatriots, basically overlooked and gravely underrated the bombastic Blob.

"Time to die, Magneto!" the literally standing-his-ground Dr. X growled even as his super-telepathic talents teetered upon attacking Professor M's in order to do considerably more damage than had been previously applied in order to render Eric Magnus "Magneto" Lensherr a hopeless paraplegic…

"I think not, Dr. X!"

…however, the extremely intelligent Master of Magnetism swiftly constructed, utilizing metallic elements clandestinely added to his ever-extant wheelchair, a very special stealth helmet that completely covered his head, save for his eyes and barely a little of his face.

"Nooooooo!"

That enraged, agonized scream from Dr. X was more than enough to shift fighting elements making up the seemingly unstoppable House of X from their individual situations against the less-numerous mutants making up the superhero assemblage collectively called the Magnificent M-Men…

"Now!"

…which wound up sending most to a bloody defeat on the half-destroyed rooftop of the six-story brownstone headquarters of the House of X.

But not before the super-speeding Quicksilver, having already stopped his blurring run in direct reaction to what was happening to his compatriots…

"Wandaaaaaaaaa—"

"Pietro!"

Archangel had done what only a winged mutant militant could have, as he swooped down to swiftly lift the exceptionally slim and lightweight Quicksilver up and over the roof's edge, whereupon the silver-haired speedster fell to his absolute blood-drenched death, due to the fact he could not "fly".

Which suddenly sent Scarlet Witch over the proverbial edge within the hex-producing dimensions of her seemingly magical mind…

"This…must…stop!"

…and so, amidst crackling Creation-level energies suddenly surrounding not just those on this brownstone's rooftop, but the totality of the state known throughout the world as New York, until…

"No!"

Charles Francis Xavier, Professor X to his X-men as well as many mutant students, sat bolt upright in his huge bed and looked over at his everlastingly obligatory power wheelchair that such as he needed for ambulatory activities most simply took for granted…

"Thank God," he panted while wiping away the sweat soaking his hairless head and slight physicality. "It…was only a…a bad dream."

But, just as he laid his bald head back onto his stuffed to overflowing old-fashioned feather pillow, his super-psychic Self managed to momentarily telepathically touch not only the minds of the mutants making up his Uncanny X-Men, within the warm and magnificent mansion-proper of Westchester County…

…but also the much more distant post-dreaming minds of most of the mutant militants so blindly following the leadership of Magneto, Master of Magnetism, undisputed despotic ruler of the Brotherhood of Mutants…

…most especially the Reality-twisting mentality of she who called herself Scarlet Witch, Wanda Maximoff…

"My…God," he heaved even as he exerted absolute authority over his super-telepathy and base passions. "It was…real…?"

Like the old adage many Humans had, at one time or the other, asserted in regards to a great many catastrophic situations…

"There, but for the grace of God, go I…"

END


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